Thinking of upgrading Vid Card: opinions/advice seeked

[-ammo-]

I have a decent card now, but my frame rates do suffer now that I run AH in 2560x1440.  The FR can become quite dismal in really busy situations.  The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH.  The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers.  The only recourse is to do a hard reset.  This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!

So, I was thinking of upgrading to one of the below cards.  What do you think?  Will I see a sizable positive difference over the performance of my current card: AMD 6950?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130921

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696

Thanks in advance!

Ammo

[Wiley]

The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH.  The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers.  The only recourse is to do a hard reset.  This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!

Where I'd start with that one if you haven't yet, is check the motherboard manufacturer's website for updated bios and chipset drivers.  If they have them, take a backup and install them.

Wiley.

[guncrasher]

your power supply maybe going out.  I remember that noise, i thought it was my sound card.  I replaced it but the noise continue.  I kept ignoring it and finally the mobo would just go on a boot loop forever.  it looks like noise in the speakers maybe one of the first signs that your ps is going out. I replaced mine and was lucky nothing else got damaged.  that was the advise give to me by TD and it worked in my case.





semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I have a decent card now, but my frame rates do suffer now that I run AH in 2560x1440.  The FR can become quite dismal in really busy situations.  The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH.  The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers.  The only recourse is to do a hard reset.  This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!

So, I was thinking of upgrading to one of the below cards.  What do you think?  Will I see a sizable positive difference over the performance of my current card: AMD 6950?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130921

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696

Thanks in advance!

Ammo

I'd check the power supply. Is it old and/or cheap? If your computer frequently crashes with AH it may be due to multiple problems. Power instability, overheating etc.

[-ammo-]

Thanks fellas,

I have a RAIDMAX PS - 730W.  See link for details.  Is this a POS that needs replacing?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Thanks fellas,

I have a RAIDMAX PS - 730W.  See link for details.  Is this a POS that needs replacing?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/281792-28-just-raidmax  

I suggest getting XFX 850 pro or something similar. Seasonic built, not bad price and steady as a rock.

[Bizman]

The name says it, only omitting the "o" between "P" and "S". No good reviews available, nor is it a well known quality brand. According to this it's manufactured by Andyson, who is known to produce a very large variety of quality, from DOA to solid rock: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913-8.html

[Brooke]

For graphics cards, I always simply look at the most-recent "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" from Tom's Hardware.  Pick your budget, and they'll tell you which card is best for that money.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

For your crashes, could be a lot of things and generally takes a bit of knowhow to chase down and fix.

Overheating -- check that all of your fans are running and that cooling fins aren't clogged with fluff.  Blow things out with canned air.  Get software to check your CPU and GPU temperature (such as this:  http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/1.23-setup.exe ).  Make sure your CPU and GPU aren't running at 100 C or something large like that.

Flaky power supply -- maybe, but I doubt it.  I think it would be more likely that if your PSU is going bad, you would have more trouble than just an occasional crash.  At any rate, if you run HWMonitor, it can show you voltages and log them, so that you can see if there is a dip somewhere preceding a crash.

Memory not seated correctly or memory going bad.  Unlikely, but possible.  Try testing your RAM:  opening a cmd window and running mdsched.  Or get memtest:  http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Make sure you have the latest drivers for everything (including graphics card).

Uninstall software that you never ever use (in case any buggy crapware is running in the background causing trouble, like old punkbuster).

If nothing else works, I'd try a fresh install of the OS and applications.

[MADe]

I have a decent card now, but my frame rates do suffer now that I run AH in 2560x1440.  The FR can become quite dismal in really busy situations.  The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH.  The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers.  The only recourse is to do a hard reset.  This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!
Ammo

I just went thru this with my onboard RealTek sound. I solved the issue by uninstalling the RealTek drivers and allowing ms default drivers to load. At 1st I dumped some tweaks I did, No joy. Every time I reinstalled the RealTek drivers I got the crash you describe. I have yet to crash with the ms drivers. Sound works fine.
Side note, I recently installed DX 9c. I use w7 so supposedly I did not need DX9. What I noticed as the download updated my DX files was that many things concerning DX sound were loaded in. Gonna try the Realtek drivers again.
I personally think that this is a software related issue, not hardware. Not to say its not hardware. I have had many sound issues in past that I misconstrued as a video issue.
good luck!
 

[Krusty]

I would second the bad PSU commentary. I also went that route once upon a time. Some hard-locks like you suggest, but it also manifested itself in other ways like for a while it was under-volting and my onboard NIC wasn't getting what it needed and would disconnect me every 30 minutes like clockwork. Thought it might be the motherboard until I saw the voltage readouts in my BIOS were WAY low.

It was a crappy PSU. An off-brand that touted high wattage but was really a POS. Check the BIOS and if possible run a utility inside Windows that can track things like CPU heat and voltage (emphasis on the voltage) and keep track of what it's saying.

Your video card is still good. Should be more than able to run that resolution without problems. Hell I'm running a 6970 at 3840x1024 resolution with great results and very high detail settings.

[Bino]

The NVidia 660 Ti may give measurably better performance than your current AMD 6950, but you probably won't be able to detect it with an Eyeball Mk. I.  The NVidia 770 would be better.

As for the lock-ups: you may have to track down and eliminate each one of the bugs mentioned in the suggestions above.  Debugging is a bear.  Sorry.  

[-ammo-]

Folks, I appreciate the responses.  I download and installed the app mentioned above to monitor voltage and temps and see my vid card is AVERAGING 87 C when playing AH.  My guess it gets too hot and crashes the PC.  Thanks much!

So, now I have a reason to buy a new case, a new vid card, PS, and a water cooling system

[Bino]

According to a PDF file I d/l'd a while ago from the XFX support site:

"The normal temperature range of a video card is up to 95 C under load.  We expect that in most cases a card will not break into the high 80s but large cards under load can get as hot as 95 C."

But clearly, cooler is better.

[Krusty]

Average operating temps can vary from card to card. It really depends on the heatsinks and fans and how much can be dissipated easily.

I would say 87C is not overheating, though.

That's not the problem, IMO.

[Chalenge]

Ammo, you would be well served to post up your system details and a dxdiag, but if you have already taken steps to buy new equipment. . .